Junior associate placed in non-preferred group; half a year later and no progress on lateral attempt Forum

(Deciding to leave, same firm different office, Reference requests)
BillMooreEsquire

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Junior associate placed in non-preferred group; half a year later and no progress on lateral attempt

Post by BillMooreEsquire » Mon Mar 02, 2020 4:42 pm

Hi all. Second year associate from T14. Slightly above median.

Things were going fine until I was placed into a group that I didn’t want to be in. No reason given. I was told it was because there was a need and because my work product and reviews were positive). I didn’t see it as a good match and didn’t feel that the group offered positive long term career prospects and didn’t match with my long-term goals.

That was half a year ago. I immediately went to a recruiter and we started looking at other firms. I have interviewed at several who typically seemed to be interested and all of whom gave a positive response, save one. A couple of callbacks so far, no offers.


Time seems to be dragging on and I feel as though I’m being watched by my firm who I think are halfway expecting me to leave. The partners in my group know that I wasn’t keen on being placed in it.

At this juncture, not sure what else to do. Afraid of being typecast and getting trapped in this practice. Not sure what other options there are. Would consider alternative options, i.e. mid law or in house (if at all available), but there so far seems to be a strong presumption against juniors trying to lateral and Covid-19/recession fears seem to be impacting the practice I want into. Maybe law is a wash altogether but that doesn’t seem to be much of an option with loan debt.

Any advice you may have is really appreciated. Not happy days here.

person237

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Joined: Mon Jul 24, 2017 3:03 pm

Re: Junior associate placed in non-preferred group; half a year later and no progress on lateral attempt

Post by person237 » Wed May 27, 2020 5:53 pm

Just curious, what happened with this?

objctnyrhnr

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Re: Junior associate placed in non-preferred group; half a year later and no progress on lateral attempt

Post by objctnyrhnr » Thu May 28, 2020 6:06 am

BillMooreEsquire wrote:
Mon Mar 02, 2020 4:42 pm
Hi all. Second year associate from T14. Slightly above median.

Things were going fine until I was placed into a group that I didn’t want to be in. No reason given. I was told it was because there was a need and because my work product and reviews were positive). I didn’t see it as a good match and didn’t feel that the group offered positive long term career prospects and didn’t match with my long-term goals.

That was half a year ago. I immediately went to a recruiter and we started looking at other firms. I have interviewed at several who typically seemed to be interested and all of whom gave a positive response, save one. A couple of callbacks so far, no offers.


Time seems to be dragging on and I feel as though I’m being watched by my firm who I think are halfway expecting me to leave. The partners in my group know that I wasn’t keen on being placed in it.

At this juncture, not sure what else to do. Afraid of being typecast and getting trapped in this practice. Not sure what other options there are. Would consider alternative options, i.e. mid law or in house (if at all available), but there so far seems to be a strong presumption against juniors trying to lateral and Covid-19/recession fears seem to be impacting the practice I want into. Maybe law is a wash altogether but that doesn’t seem to be much of an option with loan debt.

Any advice you may have is really appreciated. Not happy days here.
I feel for you. This is of course a thing that happens. But for it to happen in this specific climate is really unfortunate. I hope you succeed on getting our. Geographic flexibility is key, and I do know that there are firms hiring across a range of groups right now...again just need to be geographically flexible if you don’t want to ride this out in your current situation.

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